x Files Stagione

Telemann wrote funeral compositions for many persons. His setting of the Funeral Music for Emperor Charles VII – transmitted solely in the form of a sketch in the composer’s own hand with numerous corrections and writing simplifications and in part without a text – already points to typical features of his late vocal work: a treatment of the vocal parts that is melodically sometimes austere, mostly coloratura-poor, and systematic in its employment of verbal meter, a melodic design sharpened by succinct rhythms and suspensions, and a harmonic structure enriched by pointedly set interdominants. This funerary music is set in the context of the state compositions ordered by the Hamburg city council for the elections, coronations, weddings, and deaths of Holy Roman Emperors of the German Nation.

Joseph Martin Kraus was born in the same year as Mozart and died only one year after him; like him, he was also a musician who revealed his extraordinary talent at an early age. It is only in recent years, however, that Kraus has again begun to receive somewhat more attention as a multitalented artistic personality. Born in Miltenberg am Main, Kraus enjoyed a career that took him to Stockholm as court music director to the music-loving King Gustavus III. In their originality his sacred compositions tower above the conventional liturgical repertoire produced in Southern Germany during the second half of the eighteenth century.

Telemann wrote instrumental concertos for all the wind instruments of his epoch – for example, for oboe and oboe d’amore and for transverse flute, recorder, and flauto pastorale. Since he could play most of these instruments, he wrote extremely idiomatic parts showing each instrument in a favourable light and simultaneously appealing to the instrumentalist. The concertos exhibit a wealth of varied (and often unusual) ensemble formations, concerto practices and forms. A one-of-kind cosmos of performance joy and fantasy spreads out in the Italian, French, German, and Polish styles, and it was because of its uniqueness that cpo set out on the adventure of a complete recording of Telemann’s wind concertos with La Stagione and the Camerata Köln.

1716 veröffentlichte Telemann Die Kleine Kammermusik, eine Sammlung von sechs Partiten für Melodieinstrument und Generalbaß. Was an Einfallsreichtum und Individualität in diesen auch für Laien gedachten Stücken steckt, haben Michael Schneider und seine Camerata Köln bereits vor acht Jahren mit dezenter Leidenschaft und profunder Stilkompetenz demonstriert (cpo CD 999 497-2). Nun stellt Schneider mit La Stagione Frankfurt eine Orchesterfassung dieser Musik vor, die Telemann Mitte der 1720er Jahre erstellt hat. Die Ober- und die Unterstimme sind dabei im wesentlichen unverändert, die beiden Mittelstimmen hinzukomponiert worden.

Anna Bonitatibus (born in Potenza) is an Italian mezzo-soprano. She is one of the most wanted mezzo-sopranos of our time, admired in particular for her interpretations of roles by Rossini and Mozart. The music on this new album spans from 18th century (Jommelli, Caldara, Porpora) until early 19th century (Meyerbeer, Rossini, Garcia). Most of the arias and scenes are WORLD PREMIERE RECORDINGS. Some pieces are even performed for the first time after more than 150 years. ANNA BONITATIBUS is one of the best mezzo-sopranos of our time, well trained in performing in a "historically informed" manner. A very special highlight: A Semiramide aria (“Preghiera”) by Manuel Garcia. He has been the first Almaviva in Rossini's “Il Barbiere di Siviglia”. He was an amazing composer as well: he composed a Semiramide after Rossini that everybody considered lost. The score was discovered and newly edited by Anna Bonitatibus.

Retrouvailles importantes pour l'histoire de l'opéra que cet enregistrement de la première Clemenzo di Tito, l'un des plus fameux livrets de Pietro Metastasio, immortalisé par Mozart et Gluck. Antonio Caldara, le " Bach italien" installé à Vienne à la cour de Charles VI après une carrière à Barcelone, est un jalon musical essentiel entre Scarlatti, Porpora et les classiques viennois. Il partagera avec Metastasio, poète lauréat, le devant de la scène autrichienne pendant vingt ans. A l'écoute de certains numéros de cette oeuvre donnée le 4novembre 1734 dans des décors de Giuseppe Galli Bibiena, on comprend l'impact de Caldara comme compositeur lyrique…

ACT has always boasted an impressive roster of jazz pianists: Esbjörn Svensson, Jan Lundgren, Ramon Valle, Kevin Hays, Don Friedman, Richie Beirach, Vijay Iyer, Joachim Kühn, Michael Wollny. This exclusive list now also includes one of the best Italian jazz musicians around, one who stands alongside globally renowned names such as Stefano Bollani and Enrico Pieranunzi - the Roman pianist Danilo Rea. Since his 1975 debut in the Trio di Roma group with bass player Enzo Pietropaoli and drummer Roberto Gatto, Rea has established himself internationally. Even though he has only performed in the USA three times, he has played with many US stars in Europe from Chet Baker, Lee Konitz, Steve Grossman and Michael Brecker to Billy Cobham, Gato Barbieri, Joe Lovano, Kenny Wheeler and John Scofield…

Just when you thought that you had heard everything… My question is: where did they ever assemble such an across the board inept and painful to listen to group of singers. I mean really ! It just boggles the mind. I have NEVER heard a more lifelesss and just plain BLAH! rendition of a baroque opera in my life.
I was punished for seeking out a bargain (got it 2nd hand @ a terrific price).
Guess I'll go and dig out my trusty old vinyl recording with Teresa Stich-Randall, Maureen Forrester etc. to hear a passionate & even sanguine performance of this excellent Handel opera. That & the 3 excerpts by Marilyn Horne on her early Bach & Handel disc, which are GREAT ! [amazon]

Scion of one of Italy’s most musical 17th-century families, Giovanni Bononcini became such a force in an era when the oratorio was king that he rivaled Handel in popularity across the continent. Venturing from Italy to England and back again, Bononcini was branded something of a political malcontent, though the music heard in this set has all of the political dogma of a John Clare poem: which is to say, none at all, a music of mead and meadow, an image that I assume the sylphs on the booklet’s cover are meant to conjure in their contented gazes.